Hoist and towing attachment for children&#39;s wagons



A. A. PILOT HOIST AND TOWING ATTACHMENT FOR CHILDREN'S WAGONS Filed Oct. 10, 1958 INVENTOR. fill 925W 4 /107 A TTORN E Y5 United States This invention relates generally to childrens Vehicles such as wagons, the invention further relating to toy vehicles. More particularly, the invention is a combination hoist and towing attachment for a conventional childrens wagon.

Among important objects of the invention are the following:

To permit the swift adjustment of the device between operative and folded positions;

To permit the equally swift and easy attachment of the device to a conventional childs wagon, or the detachment thereof;

To permit mounting of the device upon a conventional wagon without requiring any modification or redesign of the wagon construction;

To provide a simply designed, yet strong hoist attachment for wagons that will afford substantial pleasure to the child or children using the same;

To provide an attachment as described which can be secured to any of various wagons differing from one another in respect to their size or type, all without requiring and modification in the device itself, said device being adapted for manufacture in a single size though usable on different wagon sizes and body types; and

To provide a device as illustrated which will not interfere with seating of a rider in the wagon.

Other objects will appear from the following description, the claims appended thereto, and from the annexed drawing, in which like reference characters designate like parts throughout the several views, and wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevational view of a wagon and of a hoist according to the present invention, the hoist being shown in full and dotted lines in its operative and collapsed positions respectively;

FIGURE 2 is a front elevational view of the hoist per se; and

FIGURE 3 is a plan sectional view substantially on line 33 of FIGURE 2.

Referring to the drawing in detail, designated generally at is a childrens wagon of wholly conventioral design, having a body 12 formed with upstanding side walls 13, said body being rollably supported upon wheels 14, the wagon further including the usual steering bar 16.

The hoist attachment 18 of the invention includes a flat, rectangular, elongated base plate 20 having its length arranged transversely of the wagon at the rear end thereof, with the end portions of the base plate projecting laterally outwardly from opposite sides of the wagon and being supported upon the beaded top edges of the side walls 12.

Formed in each end portion of base plate 20 is a straight low of openings 22, selected openings of the row being adapted to receive clamping bolts 24 (see FIGURE 2). These are of L-shape, and include short, horizontal, laterally inwardly projecting legs 26 formed upon the lower ends of the vertical, threaded shanks of the bolts. Openings 22 are smooth-walled, permitting axial shifting of the vertical legs therein, and threaded on the upper ends of the bolts are wing nuts 28. Legs 26 are adapted to engage the bottom of the wagon body, as will be readily noted from FIGURE 1, and on turning of the wing nuts 28 home against the top surface of base plate 20, the legs 26 will be drawn upwardly toward the base plate. The wagon body will thus be tightly atent ICC clamped at opposite sides thereof between the clamping legs 26 and the base plate. Bolts 24 are, of course, spaced a selected distance apart, due to the provision of the plurality of openings 22 in each end portion of the base plate.

The device includes a boom generally designated at 29', having at its inner end a rectangular, wholly flat bottom plate 30 connected byhinges 32 to the leading edge of the base plate 20. Upwardly convergent arms 34 are secured by screws 36 or equivalent means, at their lower, divergent ends, to opposite sides of bottom plate 30. At their convergent ends, arms 34 have parallel extensions 38 relatively closely spaced apart, and having transversely aligned openings receiving a bolt 4tlproviding an axle for a pulley or sheave 42. Overlying the sheave is a guide 44 connected between the top surfaces of the extensions 38. A chain or other flexible element 46 is trained over the sheave, and has a free end depending from the boom and provided with a hook 48. The other end of the flexible element is coiled about a drum or winch 50, rotatable with a drum or winch shaft 51 that is journalled in bearings 52 carried by the arms 34. Shaft 51 at one end is integral with a crank 54. A ratchet wheel 56 is secured to one head of the drum for rotation therewith, and its toothed periphery is con tacted by the tooth or nose of a pawl 58 of leaf spring material. Pawl 58 could be a pivoted, rigidly constituted member that is spring biased into engagement with the ratchet wheel. The ratchet wheel and pawl serve to.

create a clicking noise which is attractive to the children,

and in addition perform the function of holding the drum against rotation in selected positions to which it is turned.

In use, the entire boom assembly 29 can be swung to the dotted line position of FIGURE 1, in which it is collapsed in a forward direction into the wagon body, permitting storage of the wagon and its hoist attache ment in a minimum space. In this connection, the entire hoist assembly is shown in the illustrated embodiment as being of a substantial size, that is, of a length almost equal to that of the wagon itself. However, in a commercial embodiment it is more than likely that the hoist attachment would be substantially smaller in relation to the wagon size. The principles of the invention, of course, will still be retained and the relative sizes of the wagon and hoist attachment can of course be varied.

In use of the device, it is merely swung from the dotted to the full line position of FIGURE 1. Bottom plate 30 is thus brought into face-to-face contact with base plate 20. No latching means or the like is needed between the bottom plate and base plate, because the hinge axis is at the leading edges thereof, whereas the arms project beyond the rear edges of these components, with the downward pull, created by an object that is being towed or lifted, being disposed wholly rearwardly of the base plate and bottom plate 30. Therefore, said downward pull merely tends to swing the bottom plate clockwise in FIGURE 1, even more firmly into engagement with the base plate.

Obviously, the attachment does not require any modification or re-design of the wagon, and further, is intended to be swiftly applicable to or removable from the wagon without the requirement of any tools or the like. The device serves to increase the versatility of the wagon, and has great attraction for the children, who enjoy using the same in the hoisting and towing of objects.

It is believed apparent that the invention is not necessarily confined to the specific use or uses thereof described above, since it may be utilized for any purpose to which it may be suited. Nor is the invention to be necessarily limited to the specific construction illustrated and described, said construction only being intended to be illustrative of the principles of operation and the means for carrying out said principles, it being considered that the invention comprehends any minor change in construction that may be permitted Within the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is: 1. A hoist attachment for a childs wagon, comprising: a flat, horizontal base plate having an elongated form, whereby the same may extend transversely of a childs wagon with the ends of the plate projecting laterally outwardly from the respective, opposite sides of the wagon, said base plate having end portions each of which has at least one row of openings, the openings of each row being spaced longitudinally along the base plate; clamping means associated with the respective rows for securing the base plate to the wagon, said means including L-shaped bolts removably engaged in selected openings of said rows and extending downwardly from the base plate so as to be disposed in embracing relation to the wagon, said means further including nuts threaded on the bolts in engagement with the base plate, whereby to draw the base plate and the lower ends of the bolts toward each other into gripping engagement with the respective sides of the wagon, said base plate having a leading longitudinal edge; and a boom assembly having an inner end formed with a flat bottom plate disposed between the clamping bolts, said bottom plate being approximately coextensive in Width with the base plate and having a leading edge portion registered with and having a hinge connection to said leading edge of the base plate, a pair of arms afiixed to and converging in a direction away from the bottom plate, a sheave mounted on the convergent ends of the arms, a drum carried by the arms intermediate their ends, and a flexible element wound upon the drum and reeved about said sheave, said boom assembly being swingable about the axis of said hinge connection between an inoperative position in which the boom assembly projects approximately horizontally forwardly from the base plate, and an operative position in which the boom assembly extends upwardly rearwardly from the base plate with its bottom plate in face-to-face contact with the base plate.

2. A hoist attachment for a childs wagon, comprising: a fiat, horizontal base plate having an elongated form, whereby the same may extend transversely of a childs wagon with the ends of the plate projecting laterally outwardly from the respective, opposite sides of the wagon,

said base plate having end portions each of which has a row of openings, the openings of each row being spaced apart longitudinally along the base plate with the rows in longitudinal alignment; clamping means associated with the respective rows for securing the base plate to the wagon, said means including L-shaped bolts re'movably engaged in selected openings of said rows and extending downwardly from the base plate so as to be disposed in embracing relation to the wagon, said means further including nuts threaded on the bolts in engagement with the top surface of the base plate, whereby to draw the base plate and the lower ends of the bolts toward each other into gripping engagement with the respective sides of the wagon, said base plate having a leading longitudinal edge; and a boom assembly having an inner end formed with a flat bottom plate disposed between the clamping bolts, said bottom plate having a leading edge portion registered with and having a hinge connection to said leading edge of the base plate, the hinge connection having its axis offset in a forward direction from and disposed parallel to said rows of openings, a pair of arms having inner end portions affixed to and converging in a direction away from the bottom plate, said bottom plate, base plate, and inner end portions of the arms being coextensive in Width with one another, a sheave mounted on the convergent ends of the arms, a drum carried by the arms intermediate their ends, and a chain wound upon the drum and reeved about said sheave, said boom assembly being swingable about the axis of the hinge connection between an inoperative position in which the boom assembly projects approximately horizontally forwardly from the base plate, and an operative position in which the boom assembly extends upwardly rearwardly from the base plate with its bottom plate in face-to-face contact with the base plate.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,641,351 Nilson Sept. 6, 1927 2,630,334 Ewers Mar. 3, 1953 2,659,501 Pelaez Nov. 17, 1953 2,665,012 McLain Jan. 5, 1954 2,733,817 Couse Feb. 7, 1956 2,810,984 Gokey Oct. 29, 1957 2,843,360 Proctor July 15, 1958 

